I know. I reflecting and sharing a bit more than usual, but in my defense I'm off during our stupid two days "Fall Break, and I'm getting myself in the groove for presentations at Georgia Southern and Lilly-Oxford in November. Anyway, the discussion between me and this professor at Lilly-North continued.
"There's a sign on my office door under an old Halloween skull and crossbones," I told her. "It's my unofficial slogan. It says 'Danger! There is love in this office.' Yeah, I know. It sounds airy, but it is at the core of my 'Teacher's Oath' and it, like the Oath, makes me reflect every day on its meaning with everything I feel, think, and do…." In the course of our conversation, I told her that the Oath says ten things to me: First, each student, like each one of us, is a "glorious mess." And, the more we sense the value of each student the more we realize our responsibility to her or him, as well as our willingness to deal with that "mess." Whatever fills our awareness most intensely is what we will bring into the classroom. So, it asks us to put our faiths, beliefs, hopes, and love into action. . Second, it subtly asks us to widen our perspective by asking us to put ourselves in a student's shoes, to look through her or his perspective, to struggle to know and understand what she or he is feeling, to get to her or his inner life, make sense of that, and to appreciate that perspective. Third, we have to act on that empathy by deciding what we're teaching for. The Ivory Tower is a world of constant tensions between classroom teaching on one hand and scholarly research and publication on the other. That tension shows up constantly in the continual battle for time, attention, and resources. The problem is that we tend to stick with our strengths and knowledge, and our strengths and knowledge are in our training as researching scholars. But, if we are to be both teachers and scholars, we have to learn new skills needed for teaching partly by having guides to that new learning. Change and growth, and all that it entails, is the result of true, deep, and lasting learning. That is true for us no less than it is for students. Fourth, you have to deeply reflect and articulate what you do and want. That means you have to define and explain your terms. You can't rely on empty, non-descript "oh, you know what I mean" words, or "flypaper" words to which you can attach any definition and meaning which are so often written into high-sounding, but meaningless and ignored mission statements. Fifth, you have to have a sense what you future will be, what it will look like, and what it will take to create it. I mean, imagine each class in which you perceive all students are capable and thereby work to create a "growth mindset" in the spirit of Deci, Amabile, Goleman, Boyatiz, Dweck and a bunch of others. Sixth, you can't be blinded, deafened or bound by all those labels we tend to slap on ourselves and students or by the proverbial boxes in which we place ourselves and students. You have to enthusiastically and purposefully accept students for the unique individuals who they are and have a belief in who they each can become. Seventh, you have align your actions with your intentions. You can't play it safe and use an academic condom to practice fearfully only "safe teaching." To do that, you have to get into your own growth mindset that lets go of the things in the past that are whispering obstructions of "I can't" and "I'm not" and "I'm not comfortable with;" you got to live in the positive "I wonder if" present by learning and experimenting and practicing; and finally, you have to create "let's go for it" new stuff, new perspectives, new methods, adapt new technologies for your future. Eighth, like any good leader, you accomplish your goals through students developing and using "must have" interpersonal skills: communication and persuasion and inspiration. Ninth, you have to acknowledge that while you serve others it's about you and no one else. You have to invest in yourself. You have to take the jump, take the risk, and do it because it won't get done by itself or my mere wishing. You can't just wish to be a teacher or better teacher. You have to put time, energy, and attention into getting it done. You have to stop wishing upon a star and start doing. You have to be a myth buster, attacking the key fable that says "if you know it, you can teach it." And finally, it so sharpens your eyes and ears, your awareness, your sense of otherness that you realize the classroom as a whole and each individual student are in a state of constant and dynamic change to which you must incessantly adapt, shift, adjust, and adopt anew. To do that, you have to set priorities: what you can do first and immediate, every day, and what will take a while to develop. We kept on talking. So, there's more to come. Make it a good day -Louis- Louis Schmier http://www.therandomthoughts.edublogs.org<http://www.therandomthoughts.edublogs.org/> Department of History http://www.therandomthoughts.com<http://www.therandomthoughts.com/> Valdosta State University Valdosta, Georgia 31698 /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ (O) 229-333-5947 /^\\/ \/ \ /\/\__ / \ / \ (C) 229-630-0821 / \/ \_ \/ / \/ /\/ / \ /\ \ //\/\/ /\ \__/__/_/\_\/ \_/__\ \ /\"If you want to climb mountains,\ /\ _ / \ don't practice on mole hills" - / \_ --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: arch...@jab.org. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5&n=T&l=tips&o=13621 or send a blank email to leave-13621-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
